DR Congo: UN Concerns Grow Over Human Rights Violations

New York, Nov 20 2012
- Amidst growing concerns over the delivery of humanitarian
assistance to the area, a United Nations senior official
today expressed concern over reported human rights
violations against civilians in the eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), as clashes between the national
army and fighters with the rebel 23 March Movement (M23)
continue.

"The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi
Pillay, is deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation
of civilians in eastern DRC," Ms. Pillay's spokesperson,
Rupert Colville, told a news briefing in Geneva.

"The advances
made by the M23 rebel group over the past few days have been
accompanied by a significant number of violations of human
rights and international humanitarian law committed against
civilians, particularly those fleeing the combat zones," he
added.

The M23 - composed of soldiers who mutinied from
the DRC national army in April - launched new attacks over
the weekend in North Kivu province, uprooting some 60,0000
civilians and prompting the peacekeeping force known as the
UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO)
to deploy attack helicopters in aid of the national army,
known by the French acronym FARDC. The rebels are reported
to be advancing on North Kivu's provincial capital,
Goma.

In his comments to journalists, Mr. Colville said
that the rebels have committed several crimes on their
advance on Goma, including the wounding and abduction of
civilians, looting and destruction of properties, and
threatening journalists.

UN human rights teams on the
ground have documented cases where civilians have been
targeted or killed by M23 fighters for resisting
recruitment, opposing looting or for their perceived
collaboration with Government forces.

Yesterday, UN teams
had to stop their investigative work and seek refuge in one
of MONUSCO's military bases due to shootings by M23 members
in densely populated areas near Goma's airport, close to UN
assets and personnel.

Mr. Colville also noted that various
M23 senior commanders have a record of serious human rights
violations and three of them - Sultani Makenga, Bosco
Ntaganda, and Innocent Zimurinda - have been listed by a UN
sanctions committee. He added that Ms. Pillay is concerned
over reports of looting and the destruction of houses by
retreating FARDC troops.

"She is stressing that all human
rights violations by all sides, including the FARDC, must be
investigated and those found responsible held to account,"
Mr. Colville said. "All parties to the conflict must take
all possible precautions to protect the civilian population
and civilian objects under their control against the effects
of attacks."

During the same news briefing, a spokesperson
for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), Adrian Edwards, said the
escalating violence has prompted the agency to urge DRC's
neighbouring countries to refrain from forcibly returning
people from the provinces of North and South Kivu until the
security and human rights situations there improve.

"UNHCR
considers people fleeing the conflict in the Kivus and
nearby affected areas as likely to be needing international
refugee protection," Mr. Edwards said. "UNHCR also cautions
against returning them to safer parts of DRC, unless they
have strong and close links there."

According to UNHCR
estimates, the number of DRC refugees in neighbouring
countries currently stands at 463,000, located mainly in
Uganda, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.

There
are also more than 1.6 million internally displaced persons
(IDPs) in the Kivus as a result of the fighting - they are
part of the 2.4 million IDPs in the country as a
whole.

Addressing the same news briefing, a spokesperson
for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, said that the escalating
violence has also made it increasingly difficult for relief
agencies to deliver assistance.

Mr. Laerke said that tens
of thousands of people who are already IDPs in North Kivu
have been forced into new displacement over the past five
days. In particular, he noted that the Kanyaruchinya IDP
camp located north of Goma has been emptied of its
population, with its 60,000 inhabitants fleeing insecurity
in the area.

Although humanitarian agencies have
indentified three sites near the camp where these IDPs will
be able to go, assistance has slowed down in Goma, where
many agencies are based, he added. In South Kivu, insecurity
has also led to the suspension or reduction of humanitarian
activities in some areas.

"Since the beginning of the
year, aid workers have been targeted in nearly 170 security
incidents in the two provinces," Mr. Laerke told the
briefing. "The humanitarian community calls for unhindered
access to people in need and urge the Congolese authorities
- which have the primary responsibility for the protection
of civilians - to engage more effectively in the protection
of civilians and humanitarian workers."

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